Dan Steinbock

Dan Steinbock

About the author:

Dr Steinbock is an internationally recognized expert of the multipolar world. He focuses on international business, international relations, investment and risk among all major advanced economies and large emerging economies. In addition to advisory activities (www.differencegroup.net), he is affiliated with India China and America Institute (USA), Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (China) and EU Center (Singapore). For more, please see http://www.differencegroup.net/. Research Director of International Business at India China and America Institute (USA) and Visiting Fellow at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (China) and the EU Center (Singapore).

Until recently, Brussels has supported primarily front­load austerity measures. When President Hoover tried similar policies in 1930s America, a severe recession morphed into a devastating Great Depression. Is Europe following in the footprints?

Although the latest FDI figures by China’s Ministry of Commerce may appear disappointing, the truth is there has been an intensifying relocation of investments from China’s 1st and 2nd tier cities to other parts of China and across Southeast Asia. Asia’s new FDI “deal” is a regional win-win story – whereby emerging Asia can benefit from the low-cost advantages that China once enjoyed, while China shifts from manufacturing to high-value services.

In the West, North Korea’s recent missile launch has been framed as still another example of nuclear blackmail. The launch, the counter-productive international sanctions, the mounting nuclear threats and Kim Jong-un’s call for “radical turn” suggest a new diplomatic opportunity for Washington and Beijing alike and it should be seized now.